Something Real,
I don' think Producer Shogo Tomiyama and Toho knew what they were getting into when they hired Ryuhei Kitamura to direct the film. Although I've since lost the direct source, I remember reading Toho wasn't too happy with the final product upon seeing it before the release.
Kitamura is all about style and he's not particularly an advocate for Japanese action pictures. He's too heavily influenced by late 90s/early 00s Hollywood action flicks and it shows in each and every one of his films. Not that this is a terrible thing. He has some very good flicks under his belt. But it seems he didn't fully understand the series and why people enjoy watching it. Final Wars is the result.
Of course Tomiyama and Toho are also at fault here. Notice everything about Final Wars is driven by marquees: They got Kitamura to direct, why? Because he was one of the hottest directors at the time. They got Kyle Cooper to do the opening sequence? Why? Because he's worked on Hollywood films and video games. They got Keith Emerson to do the music. Why? Because he's famous for Emerson, Lake & Palmer. They get a song by SUM 41 in the film. Why? Because they're a popular North American band. They got Don Frye in the movie. Why? Because he's a popular pro-fighter and English speaking "actor" in the film.
I get the impression Toho was so proud of the names they got attached to this movie that they overlooked how well it would all mesh together. Meanwhile, poor Eiichi Asada had the same budget he had for Tokyo S.O.S. to get the special effects done. That's impressive on its own merit, but Toho blowing most of their budget on bigger names, on-location shooting, dramatic sets and motorcycle chases over kaiju visuals is a severe misuse of the budget.
"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."
